§ 11. Mr. Kirkwoodasked the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he is satisfied that individual liberties are sufficiently protected in the provisions governing national debt registers held by commercial credit agencies.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Corporate and Consumer Affairs (Mr. Francis Maude)Yes, Sir. The Consumer Credit Act 1974 gives an individual the right to see any file held on him or her by a credit reference agency and to correct any false or misleading information.
§ Mr. KirkwoodWhy did the Department resist the opportunity that I gave them in my private Member's Bill last Session to give people unfettered access to information held manually by credit reference agencies? Why did the Government indicate, through the Home Office, that they would not be willing to include the Department within the scope of that Bill, which is now an Act?
§ Mr. MaudeThe hon. Gentleman will understand that I have been at the Department of Trade and Industry for only three weeks, and that I am certainly not able to answer for the Home Office.
§ Mr. JannerDuring the next three weeks, will the Minister be kind enough to follow up the question asked 348 by the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire (Mr. Kirkwood)? The personal access provisions of the Data Protection Act come into force in November. It is wrong that access is given only to automatically processed data and not to data held by traditional or other means. Will the hon. Gentleman be good enough to undertake to look into that matter while he remains with the Department?
§ Mr. MaudeThe hon. and learned Gentleman is energetic and ingenious, and I really cannot believe that he is not capable of pursuing the matter in his own way with the Ministers responsible.